Bryce HallettOctober 14, 2009
THE "girl with an int'resting face", as the showman Peter Allen wrote of his American wife Liza Minnelli in Tenterfield Saddler, fronted the Sydney media yesterday after an absence of 20 years. It was a class act.
The entertainer may no longer be the girl of Allen's autobiographical song - they married in 1967, divorced seven years later and remained friends until his death in 1992 - but she still has the trademark effervescence that has made her as famous as her legendary mother Judy Garland.
Minnelli, 63, performs at the Opera House this week in her first Australian trip since touring with Sammy Davis jnr and Frank Sinatra. She first came to Sydney with Allen, playing Chequers nightclub in the 1960s. On later visits she saw the Opera House at different stages of construction, little knowing she would one day grace the Concert Hall stage.
''I choose songs that mean something to me, songs that talk to people rather than just singing into space under a spotlight.''
Minnelli's generosity and warmth starkly contrast with the tabloid horror stories about her battles with alcohol and drug addiction, personal failures and disastrous marriages. In 2000, she was incapacitated by viral encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. She was unable to walk or talk. Her doctor said recovery was unlikely. ''I said 'Nah!' I chose not to believe him. I went back to work and haven't stopped working … My advice to younger artists is [to] believe in what you're doing and do what you believe in.''
Aside from her near-mythical lineage, Minnelli shot to fame playing Sally Bowles in the 1972 film Cabaret. She won an Academy Award for best actress. '''It was so much fun. Here we were, can you imagine, making a musical in Germany about the Nazis yet no one seemed to notice so we got away with it. No one really knew what we were doing … I just adored it.''
Minnelli's whirlwind delivery can be traced to her godmother Kay Thompson. She had been Garland's vocal coach at MGM and sang in nightclubs in the late 1940s and early '50s. ''I was two years old when I was taken to see Kay perform,'' Minnelli says. ''She was an all-rounder and influenced all of us.''
Minnelli's triumphant return to the New York stage last year echoed the sentiments of theatre critic Ben Brantley a decade earlier when she took over from Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria on Broadway. "Her every appearance is perceived as a victory of showbusiness stamina over psychic frailty … Minnelli asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond."
Minnelli performs at the Opera House on Friday and Saturday, and at the Entertainment Centre on November 2.
THE "girl with an int'resting face", as the showman Peter Allen wrote of his American wife Liza Minnelli in Tenterfield Saddler, fronted the Sydney media yesterday after an absence of 20 years. It was a class act.
The entertainer may no longer be the girl of Allen's autobiographical song - they married in 1967, divorced seven years later and remained friends until his death in 1992 - but she still has the trademark effervescence that has made her as famous as her legendary mother Judy Garland.
Minnelli, 63, performs at the Opera House this week in her first Australian trip since touring with Sammy Davis jnr and Frank Sinatra. She first came to Sydney with Allen, playing Chequers nightclub in the 1960s. On later visits she saw the Opera House at different stages of construction, little knowing she would one day grace the Concert Hall stage.
''I choose songs that mean something to me, songs that talk to people rather than just singing into space under a spotlight.''
Minnelli's generosity and warmth starkly contrast with the tabloid horror stories about her battles with alcohol and drug addiction, personal failures and disastrous marriages. In 2000, she was incapacitated by viral encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. She was unable to walk or talk. Her doctor said recovery was unlikely. ''I said 'Nah!' I chose not to believe him. I went back to work and haven't stopped working … My advice to younger artists is [to] believe in what you're doing and do what you believe in.''
Aside from her near-mythical lineage, Minnelli shot to fame playing Sally Bowles in the 1972 film Cabaret. She won an Academy Award for best actress. '''It was so much fun. Here we were, can you imagine, making a musical in Germany about the Nazis yet no one seemed to notice so we got away with it. No one really knew what we were doing … I just adored it.''
Minnelli's whirlwind delivery can be traced to her godmother Kay Thompson. She had been Garland's vocal coach at MGM and sang in nightclubs in the late 1940s and early '50s. ''I was two years old when I was taken to see Kay perform,'' Minnelli says. ''She was an all-rounder and influenced all of us.''
Minnelli's triumphant return to the New York stage last year echoed the sentiments of theatre critic Ben Brantley a decade earlier when she took over from Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria on Broadway. "Her every appearance is perceived as a victory of showbusiness stamina over psychic frailty … Minnelli asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond."
Minnelli performs at the Opera House on Friday and Saturday, and at the Entertainment Centre on November 2.
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